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The Dynasts: An Epic-Drama of the War with Napoleon

Chapter 1: THE DYNASTS
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About This Book

The drama offers an expansive, pageant-like chronicle of the wars with Napoleon, arranging hundreds of scenes across three parts to present political councils, naval and land engagements, and private episodes. Impersonated Intelligences—chorus-like Spirits such as the Years, the Pities, and Rumour—stand aside as supernatural commentators, imparting reflective and sometimes ironic perspectives. Combining paraphrase of documentary speech with imaginative reconstruction, the piece favors mental performance over practical stagings, aiming to probe themes of fate, collective responsibility, and the human costs of grand geopolitics while keeping a panoramic, episodic structure rather than a tightly unified plot.

The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Dynasts: An Epic-Drama of the War with Napoleon

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Title: The Dynasts: An Epic-Drama of the War with Napoleon

Author: Thomas Hardy

Release date: May 1, 2003 [eBook #4043]
Most recently updated: November 6, 2022

Language: English

Credits: Douglas Levy and David Widger

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DYNASTS: AN EPIC-DRAMA OF THE WAR WITH NAPOLEON ***

THE DYNASTS

By Thomas Hardy

AN EPIC-DRAMA OF THE WAR WITH NAPOLEON,
IN THREE PARTS, NINETEEN ACTS, AND
ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY SCENES

The Time covered by the Action being about ten Years

“And I heard sounds of insult, shame, and wrong,
And trumpets blown for wars.”